Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Malawi and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Zero Boys to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by The Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Chris Corsano tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every In Retrospect record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABBA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Das Ding,
Scrapy,
Peter and Kerry,
The Dead C,
Swell Maps,
Soft Machine,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Deadbeat,
Rekid,
Sugar Minott,
the Swans,
Cybotron,
Toni Rubio,
Wolf Eyes,
Grey Daturas,
Sight & Sound,
La Düsseldorf,
Camouflage,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Tremeloes,
D'Angelo,
Camberwell Now,
The Saints,
Flash Fearless,
Quando Quango,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Grauzone,
Robert Görl,
Bizarre Inc.,
Newcleus,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
David Axelrod,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Junior Murvin,
Unrelated Segments,
The Barracudas,
Symarip,
Angry Samoans,
Y Pants,
Bob Dylan,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Pylon,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sällskapet,
The Remains,
Easy Going,
Delta 5,
Letta Mbulu,
The Raincoats,
The Gun Club,
Black Pus,
Ultra Naté,
Livin' Joy,
Jandek,
Jawbox,
Gastr Del Sol,
10cc,
Scion,
The Vogues,
PIL,
The Human League,
The Fire Engines,
Faust, Faust, Faust, Faust.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.